Life on the Rez
by SupergirlCK
Summary: Someone new comes to La Push and Jacob imprints. How will she react when she finds out about his secret? After all, with vampires back in Forks, the wolves have no time to rest. JakexOC. Slight featuring of Leah, Quil, and Claire in new Ch 10! RxR!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters that you recognize.**

**This is my first fanfic, so I need feedback! Like it? Hate it? Read and Review, please!**

**If you are a QuilxClaire fan, I've also started a companion piece called "Taking off the Training Wheels." It overlaps with this story, but it is made to stand on its own. Check that out, too.  
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An old but well-maintained Lincoln pulled up next to Jacob Black as he leaned against his old truck in the parking lot of the Quileute Tribal School. He recognized Tommy Davies, the Executive Director of the school, leaning out the driver's side window. He was a squat man with square, wire-rimmed glasses, and a friendly smile. His long, graying hair was held back in a ponytail and he wore clean, sturdy jeans and a blazer.

"Jacob Black," Tommy said, climbing out of the car. "Just the man I've been wanting to see. Where've you been hiding?"

"Hey Tommy," Jacob said, shaking his outstretched hand. "I was away. Just got back to the rez' last night. What can I do for you?"

"I need your approval on our newest teacher before she can start work." The Quileute Nation was a part of the American Indian Reservation Project, a program that brought student teachers to underprivileged schools on American Indian reservations. It was the official policy in La Push that every member of the council of elders approved everyone who came to work in their schools. Tommy took his job seriously and hand-picked his staff, so the council had never vetoed anyone he'd hired yet, but protocol had to be followed and no one could start work without the official OK from the Quileute Chief.

"Oh, of course," Jacob said casually. "When can I meet with her?"

"She's actually here now," Tommy said, gesturing toward the car, "if you've got some time."

"Sure," Jacob shrugged, following him around to the other side of the car.

Tommy opened the passenger's side door, and Jacob watched as a set of long, tan legs emerged from the car. A tall, slender woman stepped out and Jacob's world stopped. He couldn't see anything but the golden hair that fell in soft waves past her shoulder blades and the gray blue eyes that smiled back at him. Her scent was altogether sweet, musky and tangy, and it was the most alluring thing he had ever smelled. The only thing in the world that mattered was the movement of her full, curvaceous lips as she spoke. The light but husky music of her voice. Her delicate hand extended gracefully toward him and hovered in the air. Her stared at her long, thin fingers and perfectly manicured fingernails.

He was brought out of his reverie by the worried look on her face. What was wrong?

"Umm, hi?" she said nervously, waving the previously outstretched hand in front of his face.

Jake realized with embarrassment that he had been standing there stupidly while she was trying to talk to him. "Oh," he said, shaking his head to snap himself out of it, "sorry. Hi." He shook her hand and was once against distracted. Distracted by the softness of her skin and the heat that he felt when she squeezed his hand in a surprisingly firm handshake. Ever since that first time he had phased, he had never felt heat in anyone's touch.

He struggled to dominate his thoughts. _Concentrate_, he chided himself. "It's nice to meet you," he said aloud. "I'm Jake."

"Yeah, he said," she replied with a little laugh, inclining her head toward Tommy. "It's nice to meet you, too."

Jake closed his eyes in frustration. Obviously this was something else that had been said while he had been distracted. "Sorry," he said again.

She laughed again, a little more confidently than before, but still nervous. She knew that she had to impress him if she wanted to get this job. "Sierra," she said, recognizing that he had missed her name when Tommy had introduced them before. "I was just saying, I just started the Masters in Teaching program at the University of Washington. In undergrad I was a double major in biology and sociology with a concentration in American In—"

"What?" Jacob cut her off. Confusion colored his face.

"For the school?" Sierra said. "So I can work?"

"Oh!" Jake exclaimed. "Nah, you're good," he said, waving it off. "I trust Tommy's opinion, and you seem fine to me…You did go through all of this with Tommy, right?"

"Yeah." The tension drained from Sierra's body as she realized that she did not have to prove herself again. She had been so nervous to meet him and was extremely relieved to find that he was so laid back – a bit goofy even.

"So you're fine," he said with a casual shrug.

"Wow," Sierra said with a friendly smile, "rigorous screening process, huh?"

"Yeah," Jake laughed. "That's why you get paid so much, you know."

Sierra raised her eyebrows humorously.

"Hey," Jake said, "has anyone showed you around the reservation yet?"

Sierra shook her head.

"I was about to show her the school," Tommy said, "and then the reservation."

"Well, how long will the tour of the school be?" Jake asked. "I'll take her around the rez." He looked at Sierra. "If you want, I mean."

Sierra looked up at the huge, muscular, tanned man standing before her. He was so beautiful, and his smile made her feel warm inside. "Sure," she said. The anxiety of being in a brand new place surrounded by strangers was beginning to ease already. "That'd be nice."

"Perfect," Tommy said. "It won't take long to show her around the school. And then I can get some paperwork done. Thanks, Jacob. See you around." The two men shook hands again, and Tommy turned and walked into the school. Jake watched as Sierra followed him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight. **

**This is my revised version of chapter 2. I thought I should show more about them getting to know each other, so I added a bunch of stuff about Sierra's past. Like the additions? Any suggestions? RxR please!  
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When Sierra emerged from the school, she recognized Jacob immediately. She was surprised, however, to see a small girl perched on his shoulders. She suppressed her curiosity and greeted them with a chipper "Hey!"

"Hey," Jacob said, his broad grin matching hers. "How was the school?"

"It was great. I'm so excited to start."

"Are you a teacher?" The voice came from the little girl.

"I sure am," Sierra replied. "I'm going to be teaching math and science to the middle school."

"Oh," the girl said. "I'm in _first_ grade." She drummed lightly on the top of Jacob's head.

"Yeah," Jacob interrupted. "Sierra, this is Pam Uley. She's my niece. I've just got to drop her off at home and then we can get going."

"Oh!" Sierra exclaimed with recognition and what felt oddly like relief. "Okay. Great." Then she addressed Pam. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too."

The three of them climbed into the cab of Jacob's truck and chatted idly about the first grade until they reached the Uley house.

"Alright Pam," Jake said, climbing out of the car. He waited for her to scoot out after him, but she remained where she was.

"Noooooooo!" She whined. "I want to come with you!"

"But Pam, Mommy needs you. We're all coming over for dinner tonight. She can't make it all by herself!" Of course this wasn't true. Emily had been cooking for the entire pack for years. In fact, Jake knew that Pam's "help" probably held her back more than anything, but Emily loved working with her daughters in the kitchen.

Pam crossed her little arms across her chest with determination.

"Pam," Jake said, his voice rising in pitch, "if you don't come out, I'm going to have come in there and get you."

Pam squealed in delight. This was one of her favorite games. Jake bent down and reached into the car, grabbing both her ankles in one hand. He dragged her, feet first, out of the car and knocked on the door of the small house. "Emily!" he called out, "I think I found something that belongs to you!"

Pam giggled ceaselessly as she dangled upside-down.

The door opened and Emily stood there with an apron over her jeans. Clearly she had already started cooking. "Oh thank you!" she exclaimed, scooping Pam into her arms. "I've been looking for this all over." She lowered her daughter to the floor and, with one last giggle, the girl took off running into the kitchen. "Thanks, Jake," Emily said once more. "I'll see you later?"

"Of course!" Jake grinned broadly. "How could I pass up your…" he paused and sniffed the air. "…salmon…venison…corn…squash…mmm." His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he pretended to drool. "Oh Emily, you certainly know the way to my heart."

Emily laughed and rolled her eyes, then shut the door.

Jake turned back to see that Sierra had emerged from the car. "You want to walk?" she asked.

"Perfect," Jake said, offering her his hand as he started walking.

They chatted easily as they walked, Jacob pointing out different landmarks around the reservation. It seemed like every clearing, outlying tree, and building held some story or memory for him. "This is where I used to ride my bike with my best friends, Quil and Embry when I was growing up," he said, pointing down a dirt path. He gestured toward an old shed behind one of the little cabins. "That's where I _crashed_ my first bike. Quil crashed into me and I went flying into the side of the shed. Embry's mom came running out of the house, screaming about how Billy was going to kill her." He laughed at the memory of Embry's mom overreacting. "Classic," he chuckled.

"Billy?" Sierra asked. "Billy Black?" A realization dawned on her. "That's your dad."

"Yeah," Jacob said. "Have you met him?"

"Along with the rest of the council," Sierra nodded. "When you were gone. He's really cool."

"Yeah, I guess," Jacob shrugged. He pointed down to the bottom of a hill and Sierra saw another small cabin next to a makeshift garage. "He lives down there with my sister Rachel and her husband Paul."

"So that's where you grew up?"

"Yup. I spent the majority of my teen years in that garage, remodeling old classic cars."

"I have to admit," Sierra said with a grimace, "I'm not really into classic cars."

"Aah," Jake groaned. "You're killing me!" He shook his head in mock disgrace.

Sierra laughed at his theatrics. "I mean, they can be cute—"

"Cute!" Jake interrupted indignantly.

"But," she continued as if he hadn't said anything, "give me a 2010 Maserati GranCabrio any day of the week. Now that's a sexy car." She paused thoughtfully. "Though, I guess for this area, the GranTurismo would be better…protect against the rain, you know."

"Aha," Jake said knowingly. "You like the sleek little cars."

"The oldies are just kind of clunky for me," she nodded.

"Well, that's fair enough I guess. I'll give you a pass this time."

"Uh oh," Sierra laughed. "I'm in trouble next time, huh?"

"You'd better believe it."

They continued to wander around, Sierra gratefully absorbing all of the stories. The more she learned about Jacob and his friends, about the place where she would be living for at least the next year, the more comfortable and at home she felt. After a while, they arrived at a little general store with a low wooden porch out front.

"I have to grab something from in here. Do you want a drink or anything?"

"Sure," Sierra replied. "Surprise me. Whatever your very favorite drink is, that's what I want." She loved asking people's favorite drinks. She thought it said a lot about a person.

Jake raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "Okay," he shrugged with amusement.

Sierra bent to tie her shoe as Jake disappeared into the store. When she straightened up, she noticed two people – a man around Jake's age and a girl approaching adolescence – walking in her direction. From Jake's stories, she surmised that they were Quil and Claire, unlikely but never faltering best friends for life. They came over when they noticed her standing there. It was obvious that it wasn't common to see unfamiliar people in this part of La Push.

"Hi," the man said with a friendly smile. "Can I help you?" Like Jake, he had copper colored skin and short black hair. She estimated him to be about six and a half feet tall.

"Hi, I'm Sierra. I'm the new teacher at the Tribal School."

"Oh yeah," he said with recognition, "I heard about you. I'm Quil, by the way. And this is Claire."

"It's nice to meet you," Sierra said, feeling very satisfied that she had been right in her guess about who these two were, and also relieved that, so far, everyone had seemed to be extremely friendly.

"So have you met Jake yet? Did he approve you?"

"Of course he approved her," Claire interjected with a smirk. "Uncle Jay's not going to send _her_ away."

"Don't be rude," Quil chastised her with a little nudge.

"What?" she said innocently. "If anything, it's a compliment."

Sierra stood there feeling awkward that they were discussing her as if she weren't there. "Yeah. He's actually showing me around La Push. He's in the store."

"See?" Claire said, shoving Quil. "I _told_ you so."

"Told him what?" Jacob asked, emerging from the store.

Claire looked up at him, eyes wide, struggling to suppress giggles. She pressed her lips together and dragged her thumb and forefinger across them and if she were zipping them shut.

Jacob gasped theatrically. "Secrets, Claire-bear?" He shook his head with mock solemnity. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Claire's mouth popped open as she realized what he was about to do. The next thing she knew, she was hanging upside-down, both her ankles contained in one of Jacob's massive hands. Evidently this was his signature move. He used his other hand to tickle her as she dangled there.

"Uncle Jay," she gasped through giggles, "quit it! I'm too big for this now."

Jacob laughed. "You'll be too big when I can't hold you up with one hand anymore. But for now, do you have anything to say? …something about …someone being right about …something?"

"Never!" Claire cried defiantly. Jacob started tickling her again. "Quileutes never give in to torture!" she yelled, squirming.

"Ah," Jacob said knowingly, not letting up, "but you're down from the Makah rez."

It took all of Claire's energy to compose herself. She took a deep breath and stopped laughing and stopped squirming, though Jacob continued to poke at her little body. She sucked her teeth. "Quil says I'm an honorary Quileute. You guys are my _real_ family."

"Oh Quil says that, does he?" Jacob asked, cocking an eyebrow at Quil.

"It's true," Quil nodded.

"Well," Jacob said with a shrug, "can't argue with that. You're free to go."

Claire reached up and wrapped her little arms around Jacob's bicep, so when he let go of her ankles, she was hanging from his arm like a monkey. Then she hopped to the ground and rested her hand on her hips. "That's right," she said sticking her tongue out at him.

"We gotta go, Claire," Quil said. "We're gonna miss the beginning of the movie."

"See you later, Uncle Jay!" Claire called. "Nice meeting you Sierra."

"It was nice to meet you guys, too," Sierra said. "See you in school on Monday, Claire."

"I _told _you so," Claire mumbled again as she and Quil walked off, shoving each other gently and laughing.

Jake sat on the little porch and produced a brown paper bag from which he pulled two beverages Sierra had never seen before and a can of Coke. He handed her one of the unknown bottles. She accepted it and sat next to him, examining the drink he'd just given her. It was a light brown liquid in a glass bottle with a green and orange label. "This," he said, "is my favorite drink. It's called Hach Kika. It's a Quileute drink, kind of like iced tea. You can only get it on the rez."

He opened his bottle and took a big swig. Sierra followed suit. It was bitter and spicy and very strong. It made her cough. "That's…I've never tasted anything like it."

Jake laughed. "Yeah, it's sort of intense." He opened the can of Coke and handed it to her. "Sort of an acquired taste."

She accepted it sheepishly, putting down the Hach Kika. "So, you never showed me where you live now," she said, changing the subject.

Jake pointed up the hill where Quil and Claire had just come from. "Quil and I live in that house up there." It was a little two story plank cabin, much like all of the other houses on the reservation. "I moved in with him when his grandpa died a few years back."

"It's right by the woods," Sierra observed. "Do you hike much?"

"I spend a lot of time in the woods," he nodded vaguely. "That's where I was last week."

"That's so great," Sierra said enthusiastically. "I love hiking."

"I'll take you some day," Jake smiled. He suddenly turned serious. "You shouldn't go in there by yourself, though."

"Why not?"

"There are … wild animals and stuff. It's just not exactly safe for you to go by yourself." He stood up and started walking again. Sierra followed him, grabbing his hand again without even thinking. Jacob's expression softened, his thoughts of the dangers in the woods vanishing.

"Have you lived on the reservation your whole life?" Sierra asked.

"Yup," Jake said. "Born and raised. The farthest I've ever been from here is Canada."

"Wow."

"What about you? Where are you from?"

"Well, I was born in southern California, but I moved around a lot as a kid because of my dad's job." There was neither bitterness nor enthusiasm in her voice. "I lived in twelve different states before I was fifteen. We'd spend one or two years somewhere, then they'd send my dad on some project somewhere else. My mom hated it. When I was a sophomore in high school, we moved to Boston. The next year, when my dad was getting transferred again, it became a big fight. My mom was fed up with all the relocating, you know?"

Sierra paused to look up at Jacob. He gave her an encouraging nod and squeezed her hand gently.

"Well," she continued, "my dad wouldn't leave his job, and my mom wouldn't leave Boston, so they split up. She I finished out high school in Boston, and then I went to Boston University, and now I'm here."

"Wow."

Sierra felt her face flush. "Wow, I'm sorry," she said. "I just told you my whole life story." She put her hand over her face in embarrassment. "You didn't need to hear all that."

"No," Jacob reassured her. "It's great. I love hearing about you…besides, I spent the whole afternoon telling you about my whole life. Really, I think you owe me way more childhood stories to balance out all the ones I've told you. It's just, I can't imagine moving around so much, living in so many different places growing up. Having so many different homes."

"That's one way to look at it," Sierra said, rolling her eyes, and then looking at the ground.

Jacob didn't understand. "What do you mean?"

"It just—it felt more like having _no_ home. A home is a place that you are loyal to, where you have a base of people that you love and who love you. What you've got here, _this_ is a home. I can't imagine actually growing up in one place. You've been friends with Quil and Embry since you were babies. I didn't meet my best friend until I was fifteen."

They walked in silence while Jacob considered this. He had never really considered what it would be like to not have a sense of 'home.'

"Don't get me wrong," Sierra said, not knowing how to interpret his silence. She didn't want him to get the wrong impression of her, to think that she was somehow damaged or socially awkward because of her childhood. "I'm not complaining. I was a happy kid. I had friends and stuff. Each place we went, I made new friends. It was actually kind of cool. I just sometimes wonder what it would have been like to grow up—you know, like you I guess."

"If you had grown up like me," Jacob said with a smirk, "you'd probably be more buff…and you definitely would have developed a taste for classic cars." They both laughed.

It was nice being with Jacob, Sierra reflected. He was so easy to be around. It seemed like he always had something to say or some question to ask. Or even when he didn't, any silence never felt awkward. She didn't feel pressure to entertain him or to be or act a certain way to impress him. "I'm glad I met you," she said.

Jacob gave her an appraising look, and then smiled broadly. "Me too."

Soon they were on the beach, climbing over driftwood. He led her all the way down to the end of the beach, where the sand met the tree line and pushed through a bramble of branches, exposing a hidden path. After taking a bunch of unexpected turns down new paths that Sierra wouldn't have even noticed, he finally guided her up an incline to a mini cliff. The sun was going down over the ocean and the sky was lit up in brilliant pinks and oranges.

"Wow," Sierra breathed.

"It's one of my favorite places on the rez. I actually usually don't bring people here." He didn't mention that his mom had been the first one to bring him here. That coming up here reminded him of a certain type of love that he hadn't felt since he was eight. He generally only came here alone. "You should see it during a full moon."

"Oh, so I get to come back?" she asked, turning to face him. She suddenly became conscious of that fact that they were still holding hands.

"Of course," Jake smiled, hunching slightly so his face was closer to hers.

Sierra looked up at him, biting her lip. Jake could hear her heart pounding as the space between them became smaller and smaller.

Off in the distance, they heard the howl of a wolf. "Shit!" Jake exclaimed. "I have to go."


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks so much for reading, guys!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters that you recognize. I also don't own the fact that there are 7 extra wolves in the pack...though I did have to give them names and characters. I'm trying to keep it as canon as possible w/o the who Jake/Nessie thing**, **so since this is supposed to be 9 years post BD, I'm trying to portray what I think the pack would actually look like. If you want to hear my alternate explanation of how the pack came back together after they split in BD, let me know and I'll try to find a way to work it into the story. **

**So, likes? Dislikes? Let me know! Is there anyone or anything you want to see more of? Less of? If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them. I make no promises, but I'll definitely take them into consideration. Also, always open to constructive criticism. Feedback, please! RxR  
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_What is it that couldn't wait?_ Jacob asked in his head, running through the forest. He was on all fours, a huge, reddish brown wolf. _I was sort of in the middle of something. _Tearing through the trees, his mind flashed back over his day, from meeting Sierra at the school to the scene he had just abandoned, dragging her back to Sue Clearwater's house where she was staying, taking off into the woods before she even made it to the door. He hated having to leave her without any explanation. He hated having to leave her at all.

_Dude_, Seth's voice came into his head, _you should have just stalled. If it were me, I would not have left without getting that kiss!_

_ Oh please._ They could feel Leah's eyes rolling. _Seth, you're so full of it._

_ Yeah Seth, _Collin added_. Don't encourage him! Are you really so eager to be getting sex images from Jake again? It was bad enough with Bella, and they weren't even hooking up._

_ God, _Embry remarked, thinking back to those days almost ten years ago when Jacob and, by extension the rest of them, had been drooling, and then brooding over Bella Swan._ He's got the most vivid imagination I've ever seen. Sometimes I swear I see stuff more clearly from his mind than I do from my own!_

_Umm, hello?_ Brady interjected. _We're hot on the trail of five somewhat elusive leeches over here._

_ Yeah,_ Jared put in, _as much as I have to say about the fact that you finally imprinted and it was on a _white girl_, we do have a pack of bloodsuckers to catch up with._

Jacob was thankful for the reprieve. _Alright Jared, fill us in._

_ Five unfamiliar leeches in the north-west clearing. Mature male and female, a newborn female and two newborn males. They caught our scent and took off. Split up. All different directions. _

Jacob broke through the trees into the clearing, Leah, Quil and Embry close behind him. Jared, Collin, Brady, Elijah, Adrian, and Noah were waiting there already. In his head, he could see Paul, Seth and the four other young wolves still headed toward them. _Okay, _he instructed,_ Jared, Brady and Adrian, you get the mature female. She went east, right? _

_ Yup,_ Adrian replied and the three of them took off in the direction Jacob had instructed them.

_Embry, Noah, you're with me. We're going up north after the big guy. Seth and Adam, you're going with Leah, following newborn number one south down the coast. Quil, Paul, and Jonah, newborn number two to the southwest. Collin, Elijah, Axel and Jeremy, you've got the female newborn._

The wolves in the clearing split up following the directions Jacob had given them. Those who hadn't arrived yet changed their courses, each following the leader of their group, the one who had the scent of the bloodsucker.

Jacob ran north, following the piercingly sweet smell, Embry on his right and Noah on his left. He accelerated, focusing on nothing but the contracting of his muscles and the sickening smell burning his nose. His heart pumped faster and faster as the scent got stronger.

The vampire soon came into view. It was slightly bigger than Jasper Cullen, with long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. It glanced back at the wolves and Jacob caught a glimpse of its blazing red eyes. _Embry and Noah, circle around to your right, _Jacob directed them. _Around those trees. I'll distract it and you guys get around and come at him from the other side._

Embry and Noah broke off and disappeared into the trees. Jacob accelerated once more until he was pushing his muscles to their limit. With one last push, he caught the bloodsucker's right arm in his jaws. The vampire turned and delivered a solid blow to Jacob's muzzle. Jacob's grip loosened and the vamp tugged its arm free. Instantly, Jacob recovered and tackled it. He got his jaws around the creature's shoulder, but was thrown to the ground. He struggled to keep his grip on the thing, despite his now submissive position.

He didn't have to hold on very long. The next moment, Embry had broken through the trees and collided with the vampire, knocking it off of Jacob and pinning it down. He caught its throat in his mouth. Then Noah was there, his teeth grasping the one of the thing's legs. With a swift yank and a loud scraping sound, its leg was torn from its body. Jacob turned and ripped the creature's arm off. The three wolves made short work of the vampire, tearing it into little pieces.

When all that was left of the creature was a pile of what looked like hunks of marble, Embry phased back into his human form. He pulled a lighter from the pouch tied around his ankle and set fire to the heap of parts. He tucked the lighter away and was soon a wolf once more.

The three of them headed south toward home. Jacob reached his mind out to see where his brothers were and what they were doing. _Everyone good?_ he asked. But Jacob already knew. He could smell the vile smoke in their nostrils before they even answered.

_We're good,_ Quil replied.

_Yup, all clear over here,_ Collin added.

_We laid waste to that pale-faced leech,_ came Leah's voice, cocky as usual.

Jared, however, was not so happy. _That dirty parasite escaped into Cullen territory. _

Anger and frustration rippled through the entire pack. _Well_, Jacob's voice sounded in the rest of their heads, calm and measured despite his aggravation. _We'll just have to be extra vigilant. Now we know she's out there, and next time, more likely than not, she'll be alone. We'll up the patrol from three of us to four, and we'll have a group out at all times. Constant vigilance. If she comes back, she'll be eliminated swiftly._

_I'll stay out now, Jake_. Jonah's voice was enthusiastic. The youngest member of the pack, the excitement was still extremely present for him, though it had been over nine years since he had first phased.

_Great,_ Jacob replied. _Paul, Elijah, and Collin, you stay with him. We've got to get to Emily's, but I'll send out another group after dinner and then you guys can come eat._

_We'll _try_ to save you some, _Brady taunted, lightening the mood. _But, I don't know…after a big hunt like this…_

A threatening growl rumbled from Paul's throat.

_Yeah, good luck, _Quil chimed in, _I'm starving!_

_You're always hungry, you big mutt._

_Shut up, Leah!_

_Uh, are we ready to discuss Jake's new girlfriend yet?_ Embry asked.

Jacob sighed inwardly. Of course, it was only a matter of time until the topic came back to this.

_Of course we're back to this!_ Jared replied. _It's about time you imprinted, dude. We've all been waiting._

_So when are you going to tell her?_ Axel wondered.

_Bring her to dinner! _Seth exclaimed. _Tell her tonight!_

_I don't know, man. _Jacob knew he'd have to tell Sierra eventually, but the thought of actually doing it was nerve-wracking. He didn't want to scare her off. Not only had he just met her, but the entire situation was new to her. For a minute, he was envious of the others whose imprints had been from the reservation. Telling them had simply been a matter of explaining that the old Quileute legends were true and then enlightening them about that extra bit about imprinting. Sierra hadn't grown up with the stories like the rest of them. She knew nothing about the Quileutes, their history or their relationship and brotherhood with the wolves.

_Come to think of it,_ Noah's voice interrupted his thoughts. _That _is_ pretty fucked up, Jake. Why do you think you're the only one to ever imprint on a white girl?_

Jacob's mind raced. The question had occurred to him, though he hadn't had much time to think about it. He considered what Sam and Billy had postulated to him about the reasons for imprinting.

_So much for carrying on the bloodline, huh?_

Leah's words had a bitter bite to them that Jacob hadn't heard from her in years. But she was right. Sierra obviously didn't add any wolfiness to the gene-pool. Could she somehow help him breed stronger wolves? He wondered. He couldn't believe he was wondering in such real terms about his own breeding. He still didn't understand. None of it seemed to make sense and he hated that he had to try to figure it out with over a dozen people listening in on his thoughts.

_Maybe you should try to ease her into it. _Seth attempted to mediate the situation and ease away from the "fucked up" part. He hated when Jacob was stressed out. It always brought the rest of the pack down.

_Sorry. _Jacob forced himself to lighten up. _Yeah, I'll work on it._

They stopped about twenty yards from the edge of the forest, phasing back into their human forms. Each of them pulled on a pair of cutoff shorts that had been tucked into leather pouches around their ankles. In Leah's case, the ensemble also included a lightweight tank top.

"I'm just going to run home really quickly," Seth said. "I've got to get something."

"I'll go with you," Jacob offered.

"Yeah you will!" Adam said suggestively. Though their minds were no longer connected, they all knew why Jacob wanted to go to the Clearwaters' house.

"Oh shut up," Jacob mumbled as he and Seth took off, leaving the sounds of cheers and whistling behind them.

When Seth and Jacob entered the Clearwater house, Sue, and Sierra were sitting at the kitchen table talking. "Hi boys," Sue called.

"Hey Ma," Seth said, hurrying up the stairs.

"Hey Sue," Jacob said, joining them in the kitchen. "Hey Sierra."

Sierra was shocked when she looked up and saw Jacob standing there half naked and barefoot. Until now, she hadn't been able to fully appreciate his silky smooth skin, or his amazingly muscular arms...and legs…chest…abs… There wasn't an inch of his body that wasn't toned. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of him. _Snap out of it!_ She thought, shaking her head quickly to force the thoughts out of her mind. She had come way too close to kissing him before. What had she been thinking? What she needed right now was a friend. If she started thinking of Jacob that way, it would just complicate things…but this topless look was not helping her with that. "Hey, Jake," she said with a shy smile.

"What are you up to?"

Sue answered his question. "I was just grilling Sierra about what she's got planned for the middle school this year. She's got some very interesting ideas. I'm excited to see how it all progresses."

"Me too," Jacob said politely. Turning his attention to Sierra, he said "hey, we're on our way to go have dinner at Emily and Sam's place. You should come."

Sierra looked back at Sue. "Well, we were just making dinner here. I wouldn't want to leave Sue."

"Oh honey," Sue said, shaking her head. "Don't worry about it. I'll call Billy. He'll be thrilled to not be eating Paul's scraps for dinner. Go. Have fun with the kids."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Sue gave Jake a wink when Sierra wasn't looking and they shared a smile. Jake never ceased to be impressed by how much Sue picked up on so quickly. It had always been impossible to lie to her. He almost wondered if she could somehow get inside their heads the way they did with each other.

Ready?" Seth called, thundering down the stairs.

"Yup," Jake said. "Sierra's coming."

"Awesome," Seth smiled genuinely. "I'll drive."


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters you recognize.**

**Thanks to everyone who is reading! Sorry it's taken me so long to update. I've been busy with midterms and stuff. Plus I've got to sort through all the ideas I've got. Not too much action in this chapter, but I hope you like it! Leave comments! Please, tell me what you like or don't like. What you want more of or less of! I'm open to suggestions. RxR please please please!**

**Enjoy :)

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Emily and Sam's house was impossible to miss. They could hear the noise coming from inside before they even got out of the car. Sierra caught a glimpse of a man sitting on the windowsill, half hanging out the narrow window. "How many people are in there?" she asked, eyes wide.

"Umm, including babies?" Seth asked, taking a moment to count in his head.

"Twenty-seven," Jacob said. "With us, thirty."

"Oh my God. How do they all fit?"

"Pretty uncomfortably," Jacob laughed.

"There's a lot of lap sitting," Seth explained.

"And floor sitting," Jacob added.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to be here? There's enough food?...and space?"

Both Jacob and Seth burst out laughing. "There are thirty people in there," Jacob said. "You really think one more is going to make a difference? Especially a little one like you? Come on, let's go."

"I'm not that little," Sierra protested as they got out of the car. It was true. Standing at a whopping 5'10, Sierra had been the tallest girl in her class since puberty. In fact, growing up she had often been teased for her height.

Jacob rolled his eyes. "More than half the people in there are the size of me and Seth. Trust me: you're mini."

They walked through the front door without knocking. The house erupted with yelled greetings when they entered the living room. As Seth and Jake had alluded to, the house was overflowing with people – not just the living room, but also the kitchen. In addition, the back door was open and she was pretty sure there were at least a dozen people out behind the house. There were huge men standing, spilling out of furniture, and cramped on the floor everywhere. They were all as topless and shoeless and Seth and Jake. Like Seth had mentioned, many of the men had women sitting on their laps and some people were holding babies. In addition, there were a few groups of children running around and screaming. Although she was seeing it with her own eyes, Sierra couldn't believe the house wasn't exploding with the amount of human mass packed inside.

A young woman who Sierra guessed to be around 30 made her way over to the door to greet them formally. Sierra struggled not to stare at the three harsh red scars starting at her hairline, slashing down her face and trailing all the way down her right arm. From the stories Jacob had told her earlier, she was able to assume that this was Emily. "Hi," the woman said, ignoring Jacob and Seth, and extending a hand to Sierra. A warm smile graced the beautiful, untouched left side of her face. "I'm Emily. You must be Sierra."

Sierra shook Emily's outstretched hand with a slight grimace. "Oh boy," she said. "It's going to be one of _those_ parties, huh?"

Emily's eyebrows pulled down in confusion.

"You know," Sierra clarified, "the kind where everyone already knows who I am."

"Oh," Emily laughed easily. "Yeah, new news travels fast around La Push. Don't worry, though. That just means half your work is done for you. You don't have to introduce yourself." Sierra laughed along with her, feeling a little less tense.

One of the men came up behind Emily and wrapped his arms around Emily's waist. He was almost as tall as Jacob, bigger than the other guys. Sierra noticed that he was the only man wearing a shirt. It seemed almost out of place. "Sierra, right?" he said with a friendly smile. "Hi. I'm Sam."

Sierra sighed, bracing herself for a whole night of similar interactions. "Yeah," she nodded, returning his smile. "It's nice to meet you."

"Sierra," Emily said, noticing the seriousness in Sam's gaze as he focused his attention on Jacob. "Why don't you come in and get some food? And I'll introduce you to Kim and Rachel." She led Sierra into the kitchen, where food was laid out in huge bowls and pans.

"Jake," Sam greeted him with a half smile and a powerful handshake as soon as Sierra was out of earshot.

"What's up, Sam?" Jacob asked with a smirk, knowing what was going through his friend's mind, wondering what he would ask about first.

"I heard it was a pretty intense evening."

"In more ways than one." Jacob let out a bark of laughter.

"Big kill."

"Yup. There were five of them. I haven't worked like that in years. Mmm," he grunted. "What a rush. Dude, you should have been there."

"Nah," Sam grinned, scooping up one of the little toddlers running by and kissing him on the forehead. "I'm outta the biz." There was a smile of utter contentment on his face.

"You telling me you never miss it?"

"Of course I do. Sometimes. But man, this," he readjusted his son on his hip, hoisting him up higher, and gazed across the room at his wife. "Emily. The kids. _This_ is what it's all about." He placed his son back on the floor where the boy promptly took off running after the other kids who had left him behind. "You'll see," Sam said, glancing over at Sierra. "Soon enough."

They stood in silence for a while, watching Emily and Sierra. The two women were perched on the counter, eating vegetables and salmon off of paper plates that were balanced on their laps. People milled about, passing by them on their way from here to there, everyone praising Emily's cooking and introducing themselves to Sierra as they went. Jacob saw Sierra's face flush slightly every time someone recognized her before she introduced herself. He felt a twinge of guilt, but he was impressed by how easy it seemed for her to talk to such an onslaught of new people. Once she got past introductions, she looked surprisingly at ease.

"One got away." Sam's voice broke Jacob out of his thoughts.

"Hmm?" He was only confused for a split second. Then he remembered what they had been talking about before. "Oh. Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about that."

"The way Jared described it, it sounded like one of the ones you killed was probably her mate. That means she'll be back."

"Right. And logic says that now that we killed her family, she'll be reckless and alone, but after everything we've seen, I don't feel comfortable just taking that on faith."

"I think you're absolutely right. Have you set up a schedule to have people out there 24/7?"

"Well, that is the plan, but we don't have a schedule yet. I'll get that together and then we'll have to feel it out from there. There's really no way to plan for something that we don't even know is coming. All we can do is be prepared for anything."

Sam clapped Jacob on the back. "It sounds like you've got it all covered…unless there was something else?"

"No. Not yet at least. Thanks, Sam."

With that, Jacob left Sam, crossing the room to where Sierra was now talking to Adrian and Embry.

"All I'm saying," Sierra was saying to them, "is that LeBron James was supposed to be this big hot shot, and then even with him, Bosh, _and _Wade, the Heat still continued to get beat out by the Lakers. LeBron hasn't managed to lead a team to a championship yet! He's a great player, but that's not everything. He obviously lacks something critical. The Lakers are a consistent team, and I respect that."

Embry snorted. "Yeah, I bet you're a Yankees fan, too."

Sierra's mouth hung open as she gaped at him. "That," she said with mocked seriousness, "is blasphemy! How dare you accuse me of such a thing!"

"Nah," Jacob interrupted them. "Red Sox."

Adrian cocked a questioning eyebrow at Sierra, asking for confirmation.

"It's true," Sierra said. She looked at Jake with suspicion. "I never told you that."

"It's probably because he's stalking you," Adrian teased.

Jacob punched him in the arm. It seemed like they were playing, but it looked pretty hard. "Shut up," he said. He laughed at Sierra's scrunched face, her eyebrows pulling together in an exaggerated frown. "It's obvious," he explained. "Boston. Vehement hatred of the Yankees," Jacob continued. "You don't exactly play your cards close to the vest."

Sierra pursed her lips thoughtfully, scrutinizing his face closely. "Fair enough," she finally decided. "But you better not be stalking me!" she gave him an accusatory glare before breaking into laughter, shoving him playfully.

"Sure, sure," he chuckled.

Adrian and Embry suddenly found themselves distracted by something across the room and took off, leaving Jacob and Sierra alone.

"You know," Jacob said. "For someone who seemed so nervous about coming into a huge group of strangers, and everyone knowing you, seem to get along pretty well."

Sierra laughed. "I'm not shy. I'm used to meeting new people and having to make friends fast. It's just that normally I'm on an even playing field – I don't know anyone _and_ nobody knows me. But this is really fun. Thanks for inviting me. I like your friends…or…your family?" She shrugged. "Whatever. Everyone's really nice. And Emily's cooking is delicious." She noticed Jacob didn't have a plate. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet."

"Come on," Sierra said, hopping down from the counter and grabbing his hand, dragging him over to the food.

The evening flew by, filled with stories and laughter. The huge group was like one big family. There did not seem to be any factions or cliques; everyone was equally comfortable with everyone else. They all teased and joked with one another. There was a homey, accepting feeling that made Sierra feel like she belonged there. With every anecdote they told her about La Push, or about Jacob, it felt as though they had been somehow waiting for her to arrive, and now that she was there, they had to catch her up on everything she had missed.

Too soon, it was time to go home. Seth, Leah, Jacob and Sierra walked out to Seth's car. "I'll see you guys tomorrow" Jacob said as Seth and Leah climbed into the car.

"What's tomorrow?" Sierra asked before she got in.

"We're going up to the cliff to play football," Seth told her. "You want to come?"

"You know, you guys don't have to let me tag along on everything you're doing just because I'm new." She looked back and forth between Seth and Jacob.

"It's a good time," Jacob said. "If you like watching football. You can come cheer me on."

"Well that hardly seems fair," Sierra said. "With me cheering you on, you've got an unfair advantage. The other team won't stand a chance."

"Oh I'm sure we'll manage," Seth said, clearly the representative from the opposing team.

"So you'll come?" Jacob asked hopefully. There was a sincerity on his face that told Sierra that he wasn't just being nice. For some reason, he really wanted her to come.

"Okay," Sierra smiled. She reached up and touched his face, pulling it down so he was on her level. She planted a delicate kiss on his cheek. "I'll see you tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: As usual, I do not own Twilight or any of the characters you recognize.**

**So the plot is starting to develop. Likes? Dislikes? Suggestions? Let me know what's on your mind, people! RxR, please! Thanks so much for reading!**

**Hope you enjoy! :)

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When Sierra woke up, she was surprised to see that it was noon.

She hopped into the shower and then got dressed as quickly as possible. She wondered how much time she had before they had to go meet the guys. Once she was clean and clothed, she hurried downstairs in search of Seth and Leah, but they were nowhere to be found. She looked around and saw a note on the table.

_Sierra, _

_I went into Forks to see my friend, Charlie. I will be back in time to have dinner ready for you and the kids. For breakfast, there are muffins and cereal on the counter. _

_Have fun up at the cliffs,_

_ Sue _

Sierra grabbed one of her textbooks and poured herself a bowl of cereal. Then she made herself comfortable at the kitchen table, settling in to do her reading for class while she waited for Seth and Leah to wake up. Around 1:15, she heard a knock on the door.

"Hey." Jacob was standing there with a broad grin on his face. Despite the chill in the misty air, he wore only jeans and a t-shirt. "Are you guys ready?"

Sierra grimaced. "Should we be?"

"They're still asleep." It was not a question.

Sierra nodded. Jacob rolled his eyes. "Eh, we'll give 'em 'til 2." He skipped past her and made his way to the small couch.

Sierra sat opposite him and curled her legs underneath her. "You're awfully chipper," she noticed aloud. "Morning person?"

"Not exactly…but, it's not exactly morning."

"Right." She could feel her face turn red as Jacob laughed at her. "When _did_ you wake up, then?"

"Well, incidentally, I have been up for a while. I had some stuff I had to take care of last night, and then when that was done, I figured since I was already up, I'd finish up a project I started at the garage. When I finished that, I just came over here…I'm actually a little early," he admitted.

"So when you say you've been up for a while, you mean since yesterday?"

"You picked up on that, huh?"

"So you've been up all night and now you're going to go play football?"

"Yeah. I've got that hysterical energy, running on pure adrenaline thing going for me," he joked. "What about you? Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, I just woke up like an hour ago."

The sparkling smile never left Jacob's face as they discussed their mornings. He told her about the old Chevy that he and Quil were restoring for a friend in Port Angeles, and then listened eagerly as she talked about the classes she would be taking. He teased her about starting to study before classes even started. The truth was that she was nervous about trying to teach and be in school at the same time. She was afraid it would be too much for her. She wanted to get a jump start as much as possible to avoid getting overwhelmed. But when Jacob was around, his cheerful, laidback attitude seemed to rub off on her and everything felt a little less scary.

When the clock struck 2, a devilish grin appeared on Jacob's face. "It's time," he said taking off up the stairs. "Come on." Sierra followed him, catching up just in time to see him lift up Leah's mattress, dumping her on the floor.

Leah landed with a loud thud, but was on her feet in the next instant. "What the hell?" she yelled. "Damn it, Jake!" She leapt across the bed, tackling Jacob to the ground. She landed a punch square on his jaw, but it didn't take long for Jacob to overpower her. By the time Seth emerged from his room, rubbing his eyes, complaining about all the noise they were making, Jacob had Leah neutralized on the floor.

Seth sucked his teeth. "Come on Jake," he said, sleep still heavy in his voice, "let her up."

"Not until she apologizes for punching me," Jake laughed. "And promises not to attack me again if I let her go."

Leah struggled in his grip. "Fat chance," she spat.

"Leah, Leah, Leah," he taunted, shaking his head, "you're never going to get free with _that _attitude. You see, if I let you go and you attack me again, you'll end up on the floor again. You'll be pissed again. It'll just be a never ending cycle."

"Fine," Leah said through gritted teeth. "I won't attack you again."

"Promise?" he asked in a sing song.

"Promise."

Jake stood up, letting her free. Leah elbowed him in the gut, causing him to double over, and then sprinted into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Jake chuckled as he hopped giddily back down the steps. Sierra laughed with him as she followed him downstairs. They went back to their positions on the couch. "Remind me to never oversleep around you," Sierra said.

Jake waved her off. "Oh, Leah can take it."

"Yeah, well I hope she's on your team in the football game…otherwise you might have her seriously coming after you. I mean, you're big, but Leah seems pretty vicious. I would not want to get on her bad side."

Jake let out another burst of laughter. "You have no idea."

Eventually Seth and Leah made their way downstairs, and the four of them went outside to Seth's car. The shower had effectively woken Seth up and he was as chatty as Jake on the car ride, but Leah was still surly.

When they got up to the cliff, the rest of the guys were already there, throwing the ball around. Claire sat off to the side, watching them enthusiastically.

"It's about time!" Brady called as they got out of the car.

"Sorry," Jake said. "_Somebody _overslept."

"You should have just left Leah behind," Paul laughed.

"Shut it, Paul," Leah growled. "I was up before Seth."

"Yeah," Seth retorted, "because Jake dumped you on the floor first."

"Alright," Noah said, trying to break the tension before the banter turned into a physical fight. "Let's just play, huh?"

They split up into two teams and Sierra went to go sit with Claire. The two girls cheered against each other as the boys and Leah started playing.

The game was surprisingly brutal. They tackled each other so violently that Sierra was shocked no one sustained any serious injuries. Seth's team scored the first touchdown, but the teams were very well matched and Jacob's team eventually tied the score. As they were setting up to start again after the second touchdown, a sharp tension fell on the group seemingly out of nowhere.

Sierra looked around confused when everyone on the makeshift football field froze at once, looking back toward the woods. They all stood, muscles tensed, vigilant, and looking like they were waiting for something. She got the image of a group of predators catching the scent of their prey. Leah let a guttural sound, almost a growl, escape from her throat. She clenched her hands into tight fists to try to keep them from shaking.

"Behave, Leah," Jacob grunted tersely. All eyes turned to him, but he continued to stare at Leah as if his gaze could hold her still.

"I swear to God, Jacob," Leah replied angrily, shaking her head ever-so-slightly.

Fear sent a shiver down Sierra's spine. This group had always seemed so casual and fancy-free, but most of all, united; seeing them so serious, and with such tension among them, was terrifying. The situation was clearly volatile. Leah had been annoyed earlier, but this was different. It had all been in fun. Whatever was going on now was serious. If a fight were to break out now, no one would be laughing afterward.

"Come on, Leah," Seth said carefully. "It's time to let go. You know the Cullens have done nothing but right by us all these years."

"Are you kidding me, Seth?" Leah snapped, rounding on him furiously. "Nothing but right by us? Why don't you go tell that to Jonah's mom? Or to Collin's girlfriend? Or—I'm sorry—to Emily's face."

There was a collective wince. Sierra had no idea what was going on, but it was clear that the subject of Emily's scars was a sensitive one. Whatever point Leah had been trying to make, it seemed to have hit home. No one dared to speak.

"That's not their fault. They didn't even know." Seth whispered finally, breaking the silence. "Jake, we should probably go see what's up. I— I'll go with you."

After several long seconds, Jake managed to tear his eyes off Leah. He nodded silently to Seth and Sierra was surprised to see the two of them make a beeline toward the woods. The rest of them stayed completely still until they were gone.

"I hate that bitch," Leah exploded as soon as they were out of sight. Embry let out a laugh, and the tension over the group melted away, though Leah's anger was still palpable. "I'm serious, Embry," she spat. "She better have something interesting to say. If she just came around here to fuck with Jacob some more, I'll fucking tear her apart."

"Chill out, Leah," Jared said with a smile, pushing her. "Jake's fine now. Everything's different."

Sierra's confusion and curiosity only increased when she caught Jared sneak a glance at her. "Umm, does someone want to explain to me what's going on?" she asked.

The boys all exchanged glances, and then burst out laughing. "Nope," Quil replied, simply.

"Oh come on!" She urged good-naturedly. Still, no one offered up any information. "You guys are jerks," she said with a pout.

Embry rolled his eyes. "Ask Jake when he gets back."

There was a loud grumble and Brady put his hand on his stomach. "Is anyone else starving?"

At that prompt, they realized how late it had gotten. The sun was low in the sky, though not yet setting, and they decided that it was time to go get dinner.

As everyone was clearing the area, Adrian noticed that Sierra and Leah were somewhat stranded since Seth had taken his keys with him. "Hey, you guys need a ride?" he offered.

"Thanks," Sierra replied, walking with him to his car. Adrian was friendly and energetic on the ride home, bragging about the yardage he had run. Despite her outburst, Leah was in a much better mood than she had been in the morning, and she and Sierra teased Adrian about the harsh tackle that had ended his drive.

When they got to the Clearwaters' house, Sue had plenty of food ready for them, and invited Adrian in to eat. Sierra was surprised to see that Seth and Jacob were already sitting at the table. They all loaded up their plates and began to eat. Throughout the meal, the question of the tension on the cliff burned in Sierra's mind. She wouldn't ask him in front of everyone else, figuring that if the guys wouldn't explain it to her, it was probably something that shouldn't be discussed openly, but the curiosity was incredibly distracting. She pushed the food around on her plate, searching the faces of the other people at the table, looking for hidden meanings in the idle conversation.

Although there was a genuinely relaxed air around the table, Sue was eating quickly and occasionally throwing severe looks at Seth, Adrian and Leah. As soon as she finished eating, and before the rest of them had, she started clearing their plates. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat," she said, "but I've got to run down to Billy's before it gets too late." She raised her eyebrows once more at Leah, Adrian, and Seth, who promptly also made excuses to leave.

Jacob let out a bark of laughter and rolled his eyes.

"So, uh, what was that all about?" Sierra asked.

"They were just very smoothly trying to leave us alone. Don't worry. I understand why you didn't catch that; it was pretty subtle."

Sierra laughed. "I meant up at the cliff."

"Yeah," Jacob smirked at his own joke. "It's just rez stuff." He shrugged. "Really nothing to worry about."

Sierra was unconvinced. "Leah seemed pretty pissed about 'that bitch.'" She made air quotes with her fingers. She laughed when Jake rolled his eyes, but she pressed on. "Who is she? Who are the Cullens?"

"Well," he started slowly, blushing, "it's kind of a long story, but she's a girl I used to… have feelings for."

"An ex?"

"Not exactly."

"Well what was she 'exactly?'" she asked, mocking his emphasis of the last word.

Jacob paused thoughtfully. "When we were in high school, I was her best friend…and I was in love with her."

Sierra grimaced. "That's hard," she said sympathetically.

Jacob shook his head. "Yeah, but she was in love with me, too," he clarified.

Sierra was confused. "So what happened? Why does Leah hate her so much?"

"Well, the situation didn't end well. She was…_more_ in love with someone else. I sort of fell apart. Leah still holds Bella responsible for the fact that I almost left La Push forever….twice."

This was not what Sierra had expected to hear. It took her a while to process the information that someone who was so important to the tribe had almost left it forever. "Was she?…responsible I mean?" was all she could bring herself to ask.

Jacob had to think about the question for a long moment before responding. "Partially," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well," he started slowly, clearly thinking about every word before it came out of his mouth. "There were other factors at play. Like I said, it's kind of a long story. There was all that stuff going on with Bella, but also at home and with Sam and the guys…"

"And the Cullens?" Sierra asked. "Who are they? How are they related to…what was her name? Bella? And Emily and all that stuff that Leah was talking about?"

"Edward Cullen was the other guy. Bella…married into their family."

Sierra noticed that he paused on the word 'married.' She wondered if the memory was still that painful for him. Maybe Leah wasn't being unreasonable, hating this girl.

"Some of them are actually pretty cool," he continued. "Really, I think Seth wishes _he _had married into the Cullen family," he said with a throaty chuckle.

Sierra couldn't help but laugh at the jibe. "But so what did she want today?" she asked, not to be distracted.

"Nothing really," Jacob shook his head. "Just delivering a message. Like I said, rez stuff. The Cullens are kind of an…important family in the area, so we keep in touch."

Sierra pursed her lips playfully. "Alright, vague-boy. I won't pump you for any more information."

"It's okay," Jacob said. "It's just all sort of convoluted right now."

"I understand. I shouldn't be making you explain all your life drama on zero hours of sleep."

It was only then that Jacob became conscious of how tired he was. "Yeah," he said with a sleepy smile. "Don't worry: I'll explain everything…some day."

Sierra nodded. "But now, go crash. You look like crap," she said, a wide grin showing off her perfectly white teeth.

"Thanks," Jacob said sarcastically.

"Goodnight. I'll see you…" she shrugged, "…soon."

"Hopefully," Jacob smiled.

"Maybe tomorrow?" Sierra suggested. "If you're not too busy?"

"I'll be around." He kissed the top of her head and walked out the front door with a goofy smile plastered on his face.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters you recognize.**

**So sorry I took so long to update! I've been a little stuck in getting from point A to point B...not to mention I've also had midterms. I hope you find that this chapter was worth the wait! I've got ideas for the future of the story, just having a little trouble in getting there...but also, nothing is set in stone, so comments and suggestions are appreciated and taken into consideration. Soooo:**

**Let me know what you liked, what you didn't like, what you want more of, less of! RxR! The more you review/comment, the more the story will be what you want it to be! **

**Also want to say thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed and put my story on your alert/favorite list!**

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The next day was what Quil and Claire called "Lazy Sunday." One Sunday every month, Quil took the day off work to take Claire to the movies. On the preceding Saturday night, Claire always slept over at Quil and Jacob's house. They would drink chocolate milk, eat popcorn, and stay up way past Claire's bedtime. On Sunday, they would sleep until the afternoon, make blueberry pancakes for breakfast, buy a bunch of candy at the convenience store, and then head into Port Angeles to see the big movie of the weekend, followed by dinner at Claire's favorite restaurant. It had been a tradition for them since Claire turned five, and they both looked forward to it every month.

Jacob also looked forward to Lazy Sundays. He spent his mornings with Embry at the garage, then, by the time he got home in the afternoon, Quil and Claire were gone and he had the house to himself all evening. It was the only alone time he ever really got, and he relished it. Not to mention the fact that they always left him a mountain of pancakes. On this particular Sunday, however, he looked forward to not spending his day alone.

At work, he sped through rebuilding the carburetor of the 2008 Lotus Elise they were working on, while Embry detailed the body.

"Dude," Embry said, "Elijah just got the newest Modern Warfare game. It's hot. I'm going over there to play when I'm done with this. You've got to come check it out."

Jacob lifted his head to respond, but Embry's enthusiasm faded as suddenly as it had appeared. "Oh…never mind," he said, before Jacob even reminded him. "I almost forgot what day it was for a second. Got any big alone-time plans?"

"Actually, I'm gonna try to hang out with Sierra," Jacob said, avoiding eye-contact with his friend.

"Ooooooooh, I see how it is," Embry teased. "26 years of friendship and then this new girl just _waltzes_ into your life, and just 'cuz, you know, you were… made for her and she… completely changed your sense of gravity, she trumps me? Pshh. I should have known better than to trust you with my heart, Jacob Black," he said with a facetious pout.

Jacob chucked a wrench at his chest. It just barely grazed his left shoulder as he ducked out of the way. "After 26 years of this," Jacob said, "you can see how I'd need a break."

"Hey!" Embry cried, pointing at the scratch on his shoulder that was bleeding slightly. "That's domestic violence!"

"Oh poor you," Jacob chuckled, rolling his eyes.

There was a light rapping on the wall next to the doorless entryway of the little garage. "Hey. I'm not interrupting, am I?" Sierra stepped in from the light rain, pushing the hood from her sweatshirt back off her head. "Leah told me I could find you here."

Jacob's face lit up when he saw her. "Hey," he said crossing the room in two graceful strides to wrap her in a warm embrace. Embry came over to give her a quick hug as well, though his was not quite as enthusiastic.

"I'm almost done with this," Jacob said, returning to the carburetor. "Then we can get out of here."

"Cool," Sierra said, taking a seat on the stool that was normally used by Quil.

"So are you hungry?" Jacob asked her, his large fingers working nimbly on the finishing touches of his project. "Quil and Claire made pancakes."

"What?" Embry shouted. "You've never invited _me _for Lazy Sunday pancakes!"

"Yeah, well you're not as cute as I am," Sierra joked, picking up on the humor in his complaints.

"Please," Embry scoffed, "I'm way cuter than you!"

Laughter bubbled from all three of them. "Alright," Jacob said, slipping the carburetor back into its place under the hood of the car. "You ready?" he asked Sierra.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand," she smiled.

"You good closing up, man?"

"No problem," Embry said, the teasing tone gone from his voice.

"Sorry I didn't bring an umbrella," Jacob said when he noticed Sierra pulling her hood up.

"That's alright," she said. "I like the rain."

The light drizzle turned to a torrential downpour as they trudged up the hill to Jacob's house. They were both soaked through by the time they got there. They removed their shoes just inside the doorway, and Sierra tried to squeeze as much water as possible out of her clothes so she wouldn't drip on the floor. Jacob noticed she was shivering slightly from the chill. "I can toss your clothes in the dryer," he offered, already stripping off his dripping wet t-shirt. "Let me just grab you something dry." He threw his shirt into the machine tucked away under the staircase, and then ran upstairs without waiting for her to respond.

Momentarily, he returned wearing dry sweatpants and a long-sleeved t-shirt, a similar pair of pants and t-shirt slung over his shoulder, wet jeans in his hand. Sierra was surprised by how quickly he had changed. He handed her the dry clothes and pointed her to the bathroom.

Sierra emerged, gripping all of her own clothes in one hand, her arms folded self-consciously across her chest. She normally didn't even go braless in her own house, but she figured it was better than letting the wet bra bleed through his dry shirt.

Only when her clothes joined Jacob's in the dryer and he could tell that she was warm enough did he allow himself to notice the aroma of blueberry pancakes wafting in from the kitchen. He opened the over where they were being kept warm and inhaled deeply. "Mmm," he smiled.

Sierra ate two pancakes while Jacob scarfed down the rest of the pile. "So is there anything you want to do before you get swamped with school and … other school?" Jacob asked, tossing their paper plates in the garbage.

Sierra twirled her damp hair bashfully, one arm still snugly across her chest. "I don't know," she shrugged. "I don't really know the area. It would have been cool to go into the woods or take a boat out, maybe go to St. James Island or something…but it's kind of wet out for that stuff."

"Outdoorsy type, huh?" Jacob smiled. He was excited by her enthusiasm, but grateful that for the time being, the rain was keeping her out of the woods. He didn't want to put her in any unnecessary danger while there were things going on that he still didn't understand.

"I like to explore," she said casually. "But I'm pretty easily entertained. What would you normally be doing if I weren't here?"

"Honestly? Probably watching TV. It's not every day that I get to watch something that's not either sports, horror, or appropriate for a 12 year old."

"So you're missing good old-fashioned cursing and sex?" Sierra laughed.

"You could say that."

"Cool," Sierra hopped up cheerfully and moved to the couch. "Let's watch something trashy and/or offensive, then."

Jacob cocked an eyebrow but she simply beamed back at him. He joined her in the living room, sitting next to her on the couch. It was drafty in the house and she cuddled up to the warmth of his body without thinking about it. Smiling to himself, he draped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer as he flipped through the channels. "Hung?" he suggested, stopping on a shot of a man walking down a city street, casually removing his clothing.

"You have HBO? Awesome!"

They spent the rest of the evening like that, curled up on the couch, quietly watching TV. Sierra was completely absorbed in the show, so utterly relaxed, that sitting in the same position for hours without moving didn't even give her a cramp or make her feel stiff. She was undistracted by yesterday or tomorrow, ten minutes ago or ten minutes from now. Her mind was exactly in the present.

Jacob stroked her hair absently, his conscious mind on the television, but meanwhile also taking in everything from the soft curve of her body against his to the warm scent of her skin, to the gentle up and down movement of her chest as she breathed.

It wasn't until Quil opened the door that either of them even moved. "So," Quil said with a devilish grin, eyeing Sierra's outfit, "you finally got someone to do _with you_ what you've been doing by yourself all these years." He winked.

Jacob blushed. "Ha ha," he said sarcastically.

"We were out in the rain," Sierra explained, sitting up straight, her face a brighter shade of pink than Jacob's. "My stuff's in the dryer." She looked down at her watch. "I should probably go. I have my first day of class tomorrow."

Jacob started daggers at Quil as he got up and extracted Sierra's clothing from the dryer. Quil simply laughed and went straight to the refrigerator, scouring it for something to eat.

"Didn't you just come from dinner?" Sierra asked before disappearing into the bathroom.

"Well if you want to get technical…but you know, it's a long trip back here, especially with that stop at the Makah rez."

"What was it, like an hour and a half?" Jacob smirked. "I'm surprised you didn't faint dead away."

Sierra laughed from behind the door. When she emerged in her own dry clothes, Quil was sitting on the beat up old La-Z-Boy next to the couch, slurping down a large bowl of cold soup. "It was nice to see you, Quil," she said, making her way to the door. He waved wordlessly in response. "Goodnight Jake."

"Do you want a ride home?"

"No thanks. I'm fine. I think it stopped raining." She looked at Quil who nodded his head in confirmation.

"Ok, well I'll walk you out."

Just outside the front door, Jacob pulled her into a tight hug and kissed the top of her head. "Goodnight."

Sierra reveled in the warmth and passion of his embrace for a moment before forcing herself to push him away. "Jake, look…about what Quil said—"

"Quil was just being an idiot," Jake cut her off, rolling his eyes. "Spending all your free time with a twelve year old tends to have some drawbacks maturity-wise."

Sierra smirked at the comment, but sobered quickly. "No, but….Jake, really…I really like you. I mean, I don't – I don't even know what I mean." She struggled, unable to find words that were appropriate for the way she felt when she was with him. She wasn't even sure shewanted to find the right words. She barely knew Jacob, and she wasn't ready to question why everything felt so much simpler and better when he was around. "I just – I _really_ like being around you, but I don't want to give you the wrong impression. I recently got out of a really long-term relationship and I'm not looking for anything like that right now. I'm really not the type to rebound…" She was beginning to ramble. "…and I'm still trying to figure myself out, and—"

Jacob laughed warmly and shook his head. "That's fine. Really. I'm really sorry if Quil's comment made you uncomfortable. He was just messing around. I mean, you're sweet, and interesting, and pretty, but this," he gestured back and forth between the two of them, "it's nothing more or less than what you make of it." He shrugged. "I like being around you, too. That's pretty much all that matters as far as I'm concerned." And it was true. Despite all the guys' comments about him 'finally having found a girlfriend,' he felt no need to rush anything. He was made to be exactly what she needed. Right now what she needed was a friend, and he was quite comfortable being just that. When it came to anything else, well, he had waited ten years for her to show up; he could wait a little longer for her to be ready to see him in a different light.

Sierra smiled. Trust Jacob to take an awkward conversation where she had been sure she was either going to feel like a jerk or an idiot, and make it easy. "Good," was all she could say.

"Friends?" he extended his right hand to shake hers.

Instead of taking his hand, Sierra wrapped her arms around his waist and gave him a gentle squeeze. "Friends," she mumbled into his chest. She pulled away and kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Goodnight," she said, skipping off into the darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.**

**Sorry the chapter is a bit short. Hope you like it. Let me know! Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Opinions? I want to hear them all! RxR!**

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Sierra's first week of school was exactly as hectic as she had expected it to be. She taught four classes at the Tribal School every day, and had her own classes in Seattle on Wednesday and Friday. The majority of her free time was spent writing lesson plans or studying.

Despite her busy schedule Sierra somehow managed to at least catch a glimpse of Jacob every day. Whether it was for five minutes between teaching and heading to Seattle and he had come to the school with Quil to pick up Claire, or for the entire afternoon when he came over to the Clearwaters' to hang out with Seth, it seemed like he was always around to offer a smile or a joke, or even just a little bit of company. Every day she could count on seeing his smiling face just like she could count on the sun rising in the East and setting in the West. The only problem was that when he was around, whatever he was doing always seemed infinitely more interesting than what she was supposed to be doing. When he wasn't around, the other guys were a good substitute both when it came to being sweet and goofy and when it came to distracting her. Luckily, Leah looked out for her and was not afraid to be a bitch and kick the guys out of the house when Sierra really had work to do.

After the long first week, Sierra was happy when it was finally Friday. After class, she couldn't wait to get back to La Push and find out what kind of trouble people were getting into tonight. She got into her five-year-old Honda Civic and blasted the radio as she started her two hour drive back to La Push. The music was so loud that she almost didn't hear her cell phone ring as she sped down the highway at 90mph. She hit the button, silencing her radio and picked up the phone, saying hello to her mother.

After a somewhat disturbing conversation and a spirited fight, Sierra hung up the phone. All her excitement was gone and she had another hour alone in the car to sit and contemplate everything her mother had just said. By the time she got back to La Push, she was on the brink of tears. When she brought her little car to a stop and cut the engine, she looked up and realized where she was. She got out of the car and approached the house at the top of the hill behind the convenience store. She knocked lightly on the door.

...

Jacob wasn't surprised to find a group of people in his living room when he arrived home. Claire was sitting on Quil's lap on the La-Z-Boy. Axel, Seth, and Sierra were squeezed onto the couch, and Jeremy was on the floor, leaning against the wall. They were all starting absently at some sitcom that Jacob didn't recognize.

"Hey," Jacob greeted them. "What's up? What are you guys watching?" Before anyone had time to respond, Jacob cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. From the doorway, he could hear Sierra's heart pounding; the forced control hiding the roughness in her breathing would have been imperceptible to a normal human ear. The faded splotchy redness around her eyes confirmed his suspicion that she had been crying. "What happened?" he asked.

Seth checked his watch and extended his hand expectantly to Jeremy. "6 seconds," he said. "Pay up."

"Double or nothing," Jeremy said confidently.

"What happened?" Jacob repeated, louder this time, his hands beginning to shake ever so slightly.

"You are _on_," Seth said with a grin. He turned to Jacob. "Axel made Sierra cry," he offered quickly.

The tremors travelled all the way up Jacob's arms.

"It wasn't my fault!" Axel cried. Even in his own defense, he could not stifle his laughter. "I was playing around! She was being totally oversensitive!"

"Do I really need to ask again?" Jacob forced out through gritted teeth.

"Sierra came over looking for you," Quil explained without taking his eyes off the television.

"When she asked where you were, Axel said you were off in the woods," Claire continued for him, equally casual. "That you should have been home an hour ago and you were probably dead."

"She pretty much lost it after that," Quil finished.

Jacob's entire body trembled. He turned and stalked out the front door, slamming it behind him so hard that the doorframe cracked and the entire house shook from the impact.

Quil sucked his teeth. "See, now I'm gonna have to fix that."

Sierra hurried to follow Jacob outside, but Jeremy jumped up and held her back. "Give him a minute," he said. He looked out the window and assessed the situation. When he decided there was no threat of Jacob losing control, he let her go. "Alright, go ahead." He turned back to Seth. "That's ten bucks."

"Jacob," Sierra called, opening the door. "Don't be mad. It really wasn't his fault. He's right – I was being oversensitive."

Jacob took one last deep breath to clear his head. He turned to look at her and had to smile at the innocence and concern in her eyes. She seemed more disconcerted by the thought of him being so upset than by Axel's comment. Apparently it really wasn't anything to be too upset over. "Well that's not a big surprise," he teased. "But that doesn't necessarily mean Axel doesn't deserve a beating. He has a tendency to be… under-sensitive."

"Really. It's fine." Sierra was relieved to see Jacob's smile, but she wanted to make sure he wasn't upset with his friend. She hated to imagine herself being a point of conflict between them…especially over something so silly. "He was just joking around…it didn't even really have anything to do with him. I was already kind of on the edge. That's why I came over in the first place. I wanted to talk to you."

"Sure sure," Jacob said, back to his normal, sunny self. "Do you want to go back inside?" He hadn't even noticed the cold until her saw her teeth chattering and her arms folded tightly across her body, trying to hold in all the heat she could. She had come after him in just a t-shirt and was regretting it now that the dew from the air was settling on her bare arms.

"That'd be good," she nodded.

Sierra grabbed her sweatshirt from the living room before following Jacob upstairs to his little room. They sat facing each other on the queen-sized bed that took up more than half the room.

"So what's going on?" Jacob asked.

"My mom called me today freaking out and we got into this huge fight." Sierra started tentatively. "She—okay, this is really corny, so don't judge, alright?"

"Pshh, I've been judging you since we first met. And I'm right on the fence on about you, so you'd better not say anything _too_ corny. We might not be able to hang out anymore."

His comment elicited the desired smile. "Come on, Jake," she said. "Be serious."

"Sure, sure," he said, his demeanor sobering. "No judgment. I promise. What did your mom say?"

"Okay. My mom goes to a psychic, and it's stupid, but she takes it really seriously. But today, her psychic started telling her something about it not being safe here. And I guess there was something about wolves? I don't really know. It was all really vague. She thinks her psychic was telling her that I'm going to get eaten by wolves or something. And then…have you seen the Seattle newspapers lately?"

Jacob nodded quietly.

" Because she has…" Sierra continued, rolling her eyes. "Did you hear about the hiker who disappeared in the woods last week? And that car that ran into that tree the other night; people are saying that the police are covering something up…that there was more than just one person in that car but that the passenger vanished. It actually is a little scary to think about, you know? But so my mom was freaking out and insisting that I come home before I get mauled or murdered or whatever. And then I got to thinking about the other day when you were talking about wild animals and how it's not safe in the woods…I know it's just silly superstition, but just everything combined had me really shaken up, you know? So then when Axel made that joke it just kinda set me off."

Jacob took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It was time. "There's something I need to tell you."

The serious tone of his voice made Sierra nervous. Was there some truth to what her mother had said? Something she didn't know about? "Of—of course," she said hesitantly.

"I—well, me and the guys…umm—okay, let me start over." He breathed deeply again. "There's some freaky stuff out there that most people don't know about. Stuff that people think are just myths or old legends. Dangerous stuff. In order to protect ourselves, some of the men of the Quileute tribe, who started out as spirit warriors, became shape-shifters. Me and the guys, our spirits are attached both to human and wolf bodies, and we can switch between the two forms in order to defend ourselves and the tribe. There _are _dangers in the woods, and there _are _wolves. But the wolves are the protectors, not the threat."

Sierra started at him blankly as he spoke. She frowned at him, then laughed shortly. "Okay, alright," she said, "I get it. I'm being ridiculous. I know it's crazy to let that stuff bother me. It's just a weird coincidence, you know? I mean, don't you think?"

Jacob's shoulders dropped in disappointment, but she didn't notice. "Yeah," he said. "Weird coincidence." He wouldn't press the issue now. Not when she was so on edge already. But he had told her and she hadn't believed him. "But don't worry," he reassured her. "You're safe here on the rez."

Sierra turned her body so she was sitting next to Jacob. He draped his arm around her and she leaned her head on his chest, melting into him. Sitting there listening to his heart beat, she found that hers was slowing to match it. The steady, unhurried thumping made her body calm, and the tension was slowly sapped from her muscles. "Thanks, Jake."

Jake rested his cheek on her head and stared at the wall. He could feel her breath come easier and more steadily as she relaxed. He told her and she hadn't believed him. That would only make it harder. Harder to tell her again. Harder to live with the situation now. She didn't get it. She had laughed it off as a joke…but he supposed he had laughed it off the first time he heard the stories, too. Would she be as horrified as he had been to find out that they were true? Would she leave like her mother wanted her to?

He was broken from his reverie when Sierra sat up. "So what's on the schedule for tonight?" she asked with a smile that made him feel better despite himself. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard after all.

"I don't know. Hanging out. We can ask around, see what people are doing." He shrugged. "But first," he said, his face lighting up deviously, "I think Axel's still waiting on a broken nose." He jumped up and took off down the stairs.


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay, I know it's been a long time since I last updated. Sorry about that - hopefully you won't have to wait so long for the next chapter!**

**Before we start, I just want to thank all of my faithful readers! And thanks so much to all of my reviewers! I hope you continue to enjoy the story. For my new readers, I hope you like it enough to keep reading. All comments and reviews are appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize.

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Jacob only slept a few short hours before waking up to run patrol. Weeks had passed since they had seen those vampires in the woods, and everything had been quiet to the point of tedium since then. Everyone, including Jake, was tired of having to take extra shifts, but he refused to take any chances.

He rolled out of bed and stripped off his boxers before heading into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. The sun was not up yet, so he had no trouble traveling the ten yards to the woods without anyone catching a glimpse of his naked form. As soon as he crossed the tree line, he let the familiar heat take over his body. What was once an awkward knee-jerk reaction to uncontrollable rage was now a comfortable process that felt as natural as walking. He took a deep breath and embraced the warmth that ran up his spine. His vision flashed red for less than a second, and he felt his muscles contort, expanding in size and strength.

Scenes of the forest miles away greeted him and he took off toward them. _Hey guys. How's it going? Anything I should know?_

The response was in his head immediately in the form of Paul's voice. _Nothing of interest._

_Nothing at all_,Adam added.

Jacob could feel the boredom of his brothers as they had scoured the woods fruitlessly for the past three hours. He could see the trees flash by them as all four took off toward home. _Come on Paul, that's my sister, dude!_ Jacob cried, disgusted, in response to Paul's thoughts of what was waiting for him when he got there.

Momentarily, another stream of consciousness popped into his head. Embry inquired as to whether he had missed anything and was promptly informed on the situation. He laughed shamelessly at Paul and Jacob, but quickly got his head in the game, knowing that Jake didn't take kindly to jibes about Rachel. There was a similar exchange when Seth and Jeremy showed up, and finally, Jake was relieved to have Paul's thoughts out of his head.

He missed the days when the Cullens had been gone and they had been able to patrol two at a time, only having to take shifts once every couple of days, instead of twice a day in groups of four. As good as it felt to be in his wolf form, doing what he was made for, it still sometimes felt too crowded in his head. Even with nine years of practice, some people still couldn't or wouldn't control their thoughts, and there were certain things he did not need to see, or feel, or know.

_Oh come on,_ Jeremy interrupted his reflection. _You know you get lonely in your head when your thoughts are the only ones rattling around up there._

_Maybe _your_ thoughts rattle,_ Embry snorted. _With that big empty head of yours. Jake over-thinks shit enough to fill up his own head _and_ the rest of ours._

Jacob stopped short, causing Jeremy, whose reflexes were not the fastest of the bunch, to run headlong into Embry. Embry turned and swiped a huge paw at Jeremy, landing a blow across his muzzle. Jacob howled with laughter and took off again.

After three uneventful hours, more thought trains invaded their minds. _What's the sitch? _Came Axel's voice.

_All's quiet on the Western front_, Seth replied.

_Cool. _It was Leah this time. _We'll take it from here. Mom made breakfast, by the way. She told me to tell you there's enough for all of you if you can refrain from behaving like animals….so basically you're _not_ invited…_

Jake could almost see Leah's smug little smirk. _Ha ha._

The silence in the Clearwater house was shattered when the four men burst through the front door. Sue and Sierra sat at the kitchen table, both still in their pajamas, sipping coffee and reading.

"Wow, we almost had a full half hour of peace and quiet," Sue remarked, glancing up from her newspaper to check the clock. "You boys must have been out pretty far."

"Ah, you hate peace and quiet, Mrs. C," Jeremy said as all four of them helped themselves to massive amounts of bacon and eggs.

Seth poured himself a bowl-sized cup of coffee and kissed Sue on the forehead. "Morning, Ma. What's up Sierra?"

Sierra nodded in his direction. "Hey. Where are you guys coming from?"

"Patrol," Embry shrugged. Sierra cocked an eyebrow.

"It's kind of like neighborhood watch," Jacob explained. "What's new in the news, Sue?" he changed the subject.

"Some hikers saw a bear in the woods," Sue said darkly. "Dangerous business when people get so close to wild animals like that. They should really be more careful."

"I'm sure it's fine," Jeremy shrugged. "They're non-threatening. If that's their top story, it just means it's a slow news day."

"Yeah well, _no_ news is good news I always say," Sue replied seriously. "And you know, hunting season is coming up, so…." She trailed off, letting her words hang in the air.

The guys offered no response to Sue's comment. They continued to shovel down their food in silence as though they hadn't eaten in weeks.

"So what are you up to today, Sierra?" Seth asked.

"Well Rachel and Emily invited me to have lunch with them and hang out. I guess sort of like a girl's day?"

"Nice. And you girls are coming to Texas Hold 'Em later, right?"

"Texas Hold 'Em?"

"Every other Saturday, Adam runs Texas Hold 'Em at the community center," Jacob said. "Rachel's pretty much undisputed champion. She actually doesn't play that much anymore because she felt bad taking all of Axel's money. But she still pretty much always shows up."

"Cool, I love poker."

"It's a $20 buy in," Embry explained, his mouth full of eggs. "There's poker. There's snacks. There's tourists." He gave a chuckle. "It starts at 7. Are you any good at poker?"

Sierra snorted and shook her head. "Nah, I'm terrible." She shrugged. "See you there," Sierra said, taking the last sip of her coffee and head upstairs to shower.

At seven o'clock, Sierra and Rachel arrived at the community center. Rachel showed Sierra around and helped her get set up at a table. Sierra was impressed with herself when, by the time Jacob got there at eight, she had not yet lost all of her money.

"Hey," he said, coming up behind her. "Look at you: playing for an hour and still in the black. I thought you said you were terrible. Are you swindling these poor people?"

"Uh, if I were, you would be doing a really awesome job of selling me out right now. Haven't you ever heard of a poker face?" Sierra said playfully. "Anyway, I'd hug you, but I can't get up from the table. Go, sit, play. I'll come find you when I lose the rest of my money."

Jacob laughed. "Sounds good. See ya."

Fifteen short minutes later, Sierra wandered over to the table where Jacob was dominating. "Hey," she said, pulling up a chair.

"'Sup," he said, holding one hand out, which she grabbed briefly. His eyes never left the other guys around the table.

"Told you it would be long 'till I lost all my money. Brady is merciless."

Jacob laughed. "Yeah. The guys don't pull any punches. How was lunch with Emily and Rachel?"

"It was great. They're both so sweet. I got all the La Push gossip. It's a nice change just to be around girls."

"You mean you don't love the feeling of drowning in testosterone?" he asked with a smirk. Then he shrugged, putting his cards down and collecting the money he had left on the table. "Alright, I'll catch you guys later."

"You're just going to leave?" Sierra asked. "But you've only been playing for a few minutes…and you're winning."

"I'll be back," he said dismissively. "You need someone to keep you company now that you flunked poker. Very sad display. But, you cope well with failure - I like that." Sierra laughed. "Besides," he continued, "me and Embry were going to go grab some food. You want to come?"

"Sure."

As if on cue, Embry approached them and threw one arm around each of their shoulders. "Ready to go?"

"Definitely," Jacob said. "I'm starving."

Jacob and Embry led the way outside and around to the back of the community center where Embry car was waiting.

Suddenly, their heads both snapped up at exactly the same instant. Sierra followed their gaze to see a figure standing at the edge of the woods. It was a beautiful woman, standing completely still, glaring at Jacob with her lips pulled back from her teeth in a terrible snarl. Sierra stared, frozen, as a deep, rumbling growl ripped from the woman's throat.

The next instant, Jacob was no longer by her side. He and Embry were halfway to the woods when they both seemed to explode in a mass of fur and shredded cloth. In their places now, two huge wolves ran at the beautiful and terrifying woman. With one more shriek, the woman charged her attackers. They collided with the sound of a car wreck.

She slammed one wolf to the ground and poised herself above him, but was quickly caught in the jaws of the other. The grating screech of metal scraping against metal sent shivers down Sierra's spine as the two wolves tore the woman limb from limb.

It wasn't until the wolves disappeared into the woods that Sierra realized she wasn't breathing. She tried to inhale but she could not make her lungs work. The jolt of collapsing to the ground seemed to jump start her respiratory system. She clutched the ground, gasping for air. The world was spinning around her. She couldn't feel her legs and there was a sharp stabbing pain in her chest. All of her peripheral vision was gone. She was sure she was going to die. She was having a heart attack and going blind and she was going to die. She continued to struggle to pull in ragged breaths, blinking hard to force her eyes to work.

Sierra didn't notice all the people running out of the community center to the scene. She didn't see Elijah pull a lighter from the pocket of his old cutoff jeans and set fire to the pile of body parts the wolves had left. She was completely unaware of Seth and Leah coming up behind her until she felt a hand on her back. She jumped at the touch, pulling away. Leah and Seth backed up not wanting to scare her any further.

Soon, Jacob was back, running toward them, stopping a good ten feet away when Leah caught his eye with a warning look. He took the rest of his approach slowly and cautiously, watching Sierra. She was on the ground, cowering away from Seth and Leah, hyperventilating and shaking violently. He could hear her heart racing, yet her face was drained of blood. She was a sickly white color that reminded him of the creature he had just torn to pieces.

He cringed with guilt as he looked at her. He hadn't wanted her to find out this way. He had exploded into a beast completely without warning and ripped another being to shreds. She would think he was a monster. He looked on from a distance, afraid to get too close.

"Jake?" she whispered hoarsely, not looking up from the ground.

He was crouching at her side in seconds. "Right here," he said quietly. She threw her arms around his neck and sobs tore through her. She clung to him like she had tried to cling to the ground—like she was afraid that if she let go, she would somehow fall off the surface of the earth. Jacob was shocked by her action, but he scooped her up in his arms and started walking. Her grip tightened with shock at the movement; her sobs never easing up.

Jacob carried her to Sam and Emily's house, just a few hundred yards away, the rest of the pack following behind them.

"Oh my God!" Emily exclaimed upon seeing Sierra. "Is she okay? What happened?"

"There was a bit of a parasite problem," Adam said. Terror and confusion flashed across Emily's face.

"Jake and Embry phased right in front of her and tore the thing apart," Jared said.

"Oh no! Poor thing!" Emily cried sympathetically. "Jake you should take her up to our room and let her lay down." She handed him a bucket from under the sink. "Just in case," she said.

Jake carried Sierra upstairs to Sam and Emily's bedroom. He gently lowered her to the bed, but she held on to him tight. Changing his approach, Jake sat on the bed and cradled her in his arms. He stroked her hair soothingly as she cried into his bare chest for almost an hour. The only sound was that of her sobs, which gradually softened to silent tears, and then eventually, she drifted off to sleep.

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**How will Sierra feel once she stops freaking out? What's going on with the vampires? What did Bella say that day on the cliff? You'll have to keep reading to find out!  
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**Also: Who is YOUR favorite wolf? In my story? In the real Twilight?**

**And: Should Embry get a girlfriend? I think he might need some love...what do you think?  
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	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize**

**Once again, thank you so much to all my readers, and my reviewers - new ones and you loyals who have been following me from the beginning! I hope you enjoy/continue to enjoy. Let me know!**

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When Sierra woke up, she was alone. The moon was high in the sky, but it was almost completely obscured by the clouds. The majority of the light in Emily and Sam's room came from a small lamp on Emily's bedside table. Still too exhausted to move, Sierra lay there listening to the people talking in semi-hushed voices downstairs. "This is bad Jacob," someone said. It was a man's voice, but she couldn't tell who it belonged to. "That thing got way too close."

"Yeah," Jacob's voice came, seething with fury. "I'm wondering where the _fuck _my patrol was."

"I know, but that's really only part of the problem." Despite its femininity, Leah's voice was rougher than that of the other women in La Push. It was easy to recognize. "It's almost beside the point. No leech has ever even _tried_ to get to us at home before."

"Do you think this was what Bella was talking about? What the little one saw?" It was another deep, husky voice.

"I'm sure it's related at the very least," Jacob said. "Unfortunately, that doesn't really help us to figure out what we're up against. She can't exactly tell us much, can she?"

Sierra's head reeled. Leech? What did Bella have to do with any of this? Who was the 'little one' and what had she seen? Was this the 'rez stuff' that Jake had so casually shrugged off that day?

There was a knock on the bedroom door and Emily's head poked in. "Hey," she said. "How are you holding up?"

Sierra shrugged weakly, sitting up, hugging her knees to her chest.

"I heard about what happened," Emily said, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Sierra's lips formed a thin line and she nodded almost imperceptibly.

"I asked Jake if I could talk to you." Sierra raised one eyebrow expectantly. "I'm really sorry you had to see that."

Sierra opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her face contorted in thought as she tried to figure out what to say. Emily stayed silent, waiting for her to find her words. Finally she said, "I don't even know what _that_ was."

"I know. I understand what you're going through," Emily said. "When I first found out about Sam—"

"Wait. Sam?"

Emily nodded solemnly. "Sam used to be the alpha – the leader of the pack."

"The pack?" Sierra interrupted incredulously. "How many of them are like that?" Before she even finished asking the question, she knew the answer. There was definitely a distinct group of guys in La Push who stood out both physically and in esteem. They were all six and a half feet tall, hugely muscular, and often walked around without shoes or shirts. Add to that the fact that they always hung out together, and Sierra had a pretty good idea of who made up 'the pack.'

"You know," Emily said, confirming her thoughts. "The guys…and Leah."

Sierra's head was spinning again. The entire group she had surrounded herself with here in Washington, all of her new friends, were these huge wolf-man hybrid destruction machines. She hugged her knees tighter to her body and her eyes began to fill with tears.

"When I first found out about Sam," Emily pushed gently, "it was really difficult. He was the first of all the guys to make the change, so the whole situation was completely new. He had no idea what was going on. No one knew how to deal with it. And it's a really sacred secret, so he really couldn't talk to anyone about it...except Billy and Old Quil – that's Quil's grandfather, Seth and Leah's dad Harry, and me. He went through a massive identity crisis…and so did I. My relationship with Sam made me question everything I'd believed in, and, obviously, a huge part of that was having to accept the existence of some terrifying things that I'd always thought were just the products of horror stories. For months I wouldn't go near the woods. I wouldn't go anywhere alone. I didn't know what to do with myself. For a little while I was even scared of Sam. I don't know if you know this about me, but I'm not Quileute. I'm Makah; so I wasn't really familiar with the Quileute legends about their brotherhood with the wolves. But I learned about the nobility of the wolves, and that transformation is a burden that the pack bears in order to protect their people. What you saw out there tonight – that wasn't a person. The guys don't attack humans. They really aren't scary. They're the same goofy old guys you know, just with sort of a heavy responsibility."

They sat silently while Sierra took in all of the information. There were more than a dozen men on this little reservation where she'd been staying who secretly transformed into a pack of enormous mutant wolves to go into the woods and fight off something that was even scarier than a pack of enormous mutant wolves. Maybe her mother was right. Maybe she should just go back to Boston and have a normal life and forget that this ever happened. The thought made her chest contract again. She concentrated on controlling her breathing, forcing the air in and out of her lungs to keep the tears away.

Emily noticed her struggle. "Are you okay?"

Sierra took a deep breath. "He tried to tell me."

"Jake?"

Sierra nodded. "I didn't believe him." Emily could see the guilt in her eyes.

"To be fair, it is pretty unbelievable...but…yeah, Jacob Black doesn't really lie." She laughed briefly, thinking about Jake's sometimes brutal honesty. "And he _hates_ secrets. It's been really rough on him, keeping this from you for the past couple of weeks."

"So I guess it really didn't help when he told me and I laughed in his face, huh." Sierra bit her lip.

"Yes. He was slightly less than pleased with that reaction." Emily looked Sierra up and down thoughtfully. The girl was still curled up defensively, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. Her face was stained with tears, her hair damp with sweat, and her skin retained a slightly green tinge. "Though, this wasn't exactly what he'd been hoping for either."

"But…it's this big secret, right? Why do I even get to know?"

For the first time, Emily looked uncomfortable. Her eyes darted around the room, avoiding Sierra's gaze. "Umm…_that_ …well—"

She was saved by a light tapping on the door. She swiftly hopped up to open it.

"Can I come in?" Sierra recognized the voice.

Emily looked over her shoulder and saw Sierra nod in confirmation. "I'll leave you two to it?" She said, once again looking to Sierra to confirm. After another nod, Emily slipped out and Sierra and Jacob were alone.

"That's not how I wanted you to find out," Jake mumbled, leaning on the doorframe.

"Yeah, I could have lived without it myself," Sierra quipped, her death grip around her knees loosening slightly. "But…how _did_ you want me to find out? I mean, why do I even get to find out?"

Jake's lips pulled back into a tight smile and he shook his head. "That's not on tonight's list for crazy shit getting dumped on you."

"Oh," Sierra said sarcastically, relaxing a little bit. "Did I fill my freaky shit quota for the day? One panic attack and I'm cut off?"

He rolled his eyes. "Do you really want to hear more right now?" he asked seriously, sitting down on the bed. His face was strained with worry and guilt.

"Is there really that much more to hear?" she asked almost casually, leaning forward and letting go of her knees. He cocked an eyebrow and she backed off. "Maybe in a couple of days."

"So you're not thinking about leaving?" he asked hopefully.

Sierra shrugged noncommittally. "Even if I decide to leave, it'll still take me a few days to get everything in order," she half-joked. "Besides, I should probably have all the information before I make a decision, right?" His face fell again and Sierra couldn't believe how vulnerable he looked. She immediately felt guilty for the crack. She sighed heavily. "You want me to be honest?"

"Of course."

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know if I can handle this, Jacob. I just found out that all my friends here, including the one person—well, whatever you are, that I counted on and trusted, who really made me feel comfortable and at home, all transform into a huge pack of wolves…and then, there's even _more_ that I still don't know about? I mean, whatever's out there that you need a dozen enormous wolves to protect you from, I'm pretty sure I don't want to be anywhere near that."

"Nothing will happen to you here," Jacob implored her. "La Push is completely safe. That's what we're here for."

"Can I ask you a question?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah. Definitely. Anything." He was relieved that she wasn't completely rejecting it. They were making progress.

"Whatever it is that you guys are supposed to be protecting people from…is that what attacked Emily?"

Jacob took a deep breath and let it out very slowly. "No." He hoped against hope that she wouldn't ask the obvious next question.

"What happened to her?"

He closed his eyes and folded his hands in front of his mouth, resting his elbows on his knees. When he looked back up, he saw that she was watching him intently. Her eyes caught his and held them fast. Without breaking eye contact, he turned his entire body to face her. "Did Emily tell you about when Sam first phased?"

Her eyes widened in horror and her mouth suddenly felt very dry. "Sam did that to her?" she asked, her voice faltering.

"You have to understand," Jacob explained desperately, "it was over ten years ago, and he was all alone. He didn't have control over himself. It's not like that anymore, for any of us. Sam doesn't even phase at all any—"

"Jake," she interrupted him, holding up a hand. She looked green. With her other hand, she groped for the bucket she knew was beside the bed. As soon as her hand closed around the edge, she turned and emptied the contents of her stomach into it.

When her heaving stopped, Jacob leaned toward her. "Sierra?"

She placed the bucket on the floor and looked up at him. "I—I have to go. I'm sorry." She jumped up off the bed, and took off out the door.

Jacob flopped back onto the bed. He could hear her voice downstairs. "Is Rachel here? I really have to be...not here. Could you drive me?"

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath.

* * *

Oooh. Bit of a cliffie. Is she going back home? How will they reconcile?

Sorry it's sort of depresseing and a little short...but hopefully the next one will be more cheerful. Or get to a more cheerful place at least...

Anyway? Like it? Dislike? Read and Review, PLEASE! I want to know what you think.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry for the wait, guys. I hope it was worth it!**

* * *

It wasn't like when Bella had chosen Edward. There was no anger or resentment in Jacob now. What he felt could barely even be called pain. He was empty. For the past four days, ever since he had watched through Seth's eyes as Sierra haphazardly threw all of her belongings into the back of her car and took off with a tearful 'goodbye,' he had been wrecked. Without his reason for living, nothing was worth doing. He didn't eat. He rarely even left his room. He missed his patrols. They weren't even sure he couldphase if he wanted to.

The entire pack was lost. The inner turmoil of their alpha caused confusion and distress within all of them. Without his leadership, they were falling apart at the seams. It was all Leah could do to keep patrols running in his pseudo-absence.

"Jacob, this isn't the time for you to have a breakdown," Leah complained, pounding incessantly on his bedroom door. "There's something serious going on out there and we need you." There was no answer. "Jake you can't just shut us out forever," she said, still banging on the door.

"It's not locked," he said in a low monotone that would have been imperceptible if not for Leah's superhuman hearing.

"Oh," she mumbled, turning the knob and entering.

The small room was uncharacteristically tidy. There was none of the usual clutter on top of his dresser or clothes strewn about the floor. On a table beside his bed, there was a half empty cup of water and a plate of untouched food that had long since gone cold. Leah had a sneaking suspicion that nothing had been moved, or even touched, since Emily had come to 'check in' on Jake when he first became catatonic.

Jacob was sprawled out on the bed, wearing the same black sweatpants and white t-shirt he'd had on the last time she'd seen him. He'd lost weight. She hadn't seen him looking so scrawny since before he'd grown into his body – pre-wolf. His face was covered in a thick stubble that she rarely saw on any of the guys and he had dark purple circles under his eyes.

"Dude, you look like shit," she commented.

"Thanks," he replied, his sarcasm lacking its usual bite. His gaze was fixed on a spot on the ceiling where the paint had begun to crack. His eyes did not move when Leah entered, nor when she spoke.

"Jake, you've gotta get up."

"What's the point?" he said flatly.

"The point?" Leah exclaimed. "The point is, _Most High Alpha_," she spat the title at him. "That there's some freaky vamp shit going on right now, and we don't know what it is. So we need to be at the top of our game to deal with it or else we could be responsible for the death of all of our friends and family. That means we need a strong leader who's running at 100%, so stop being a selfish fucking pussy and man up. Think about someone other than yourself for once in your life, Jacob." Her words were harsh, her tone angry and disdainful. Leah was the master of antagonism. She knew everyone's weak spots and could get a rise out of anyone, especially Jacob. She no longer took morbid pleasure in the practice, but she was certainly still good at it, and Jacob needed someone to snap him out of his mental disconnect. This time, however, he didn't take the bait.

He shrugged blankly. "You be alpha," he said with no hostility or challenge in his voice.

Leah sighed in frustration. Obviously she would have to take a different approach. "What if she comes back, Jacob? What are we supposed to tell her when she sees you here, wasting away like this? How are we supposed to explain, convince her that we're here to do good when you won't even get up to defend your people when lives are at stake?"

Jacob looked at her for the first time since she had entered the room. She could see the hollowness behind his eyes. "She's not coming back, Leah."

Sierra stared out the unfamiliar window. Rain was falling on the sprawling campus of the University of Washington. She had been in this limbo for four days now and she still didn't know what to do. Going back to Boston would be admitting defeat – that her mother had been right and she was not ready to be out on her own, or that somehow this had been the wrong decision. Well, she wasn't exactly sure it had been the right one, but she wasn't about to go and tell her mom that. Besides, every time she considered it, every time she sat at the computer to look for plane tickets, her chest seized up and she felt like she couldn't breathe. But she couldn't exactly go back to La Push. Not after what she had seen. And then taking off like that, leaving her job at the school without any explanation. She wasn't even sure she'd be welcome if she went back.

She'd had no plan when she left La Push. The only person she knew in Seattle was a girl from school, Alexis. Alexis was in both of her classes and they sometimes got coffee or studied together. While they got along very well, their relationship had been mostly on the surface until Sierra had called her up needing a place to stay. Now, after spending four nights on Alexis's couch, the two girls had gotten much closer.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Sierra started at the sound of her friend's voice. She turned around and forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks again…for letting me stay."

Although she was unconvinced, Alexis knew better than to push the issue. Sierra had shown up on her doorstep looking haggard, her entire life packed into that little Honda. She had insisted that everything was fine, that she had simply had a disagreement with her roommate and needed a couple of days to find a new place to stay, but despite her confident denials, Alexis could tell that something had happened to deeply disturb Sierra. This wasn't the same girl she had known, who chatted and joked so easily before class, and then always rushed home afterward to hang out with her new friends, her new family. She was jumpy now, and quiet. Over the past few days, Alexis sensed that Sierra's friends in La Push were a bit of a sore subject, not that she had ever talked much about them before. Sierra was always somewhat closed off when it came to talking about her own personal life.

"Of course," Alexis said. "Where would I be without you in class? Bored out of my mind." She answered her own question.

"Probably getting A's," Sierra laughed. She knew that she had a tendency to distract the people who sat neat her.

"Well I'll just have to copy off you…now that you have so much free time to spend studying." The comment seemed innocent enough, but both girls knew it was pointed.

Sierra sighed and flopped down on the couch in the living room that had been her bed for the past few nights. "Yeah, it's weird not going back there every night…and I do miss the kids." Alexis nodded, hoping her silence would encourage Sierra to say more. It worked. "You know I didn't even tell the school anything? I just didn't show up on Monday. I bet they're pissed."

"You could call now," Alexis suggested. "Explain."

"Yeah, but what would I even say?" Sierra asked, looking as though she were truly expecting a response, even though, not knowing what had happened, Alexis couldn't possibly answer that question.

"Well, that _is _the question, isn't it?"

They sat there in silence. Sierra folded her arms protectively across her chest and fiddled with a loose string on her shirt. Alexis just watched her. Waiting.

"I should just tell them to ask Jacob," she said finally, rolling her eyes. "He could explain it all better than me anyway."

"Jacob? Is that the guy who used to come pick you up sometimes?" Sierra nodded. "Did you guys get into a fight or something?" Alexis lowered her voice even though there was no one else around to hear her. "Did he…do something to you?"

"What?" Sierra cried. "No! Jake's harmless!" She said it out of instinct, but once the words had escaped her lips, she realized that they weren't true. Not exactly. Jacob Black was a huge wolf, with enormous claws and long sharp teeth made for tearing and destruction, and the annihilation of…well she wasn't quite sure what. That was why she had left. But the type of harm that Alexis was thinking of – regular human harm – that was something completely different, something that deep down Sierra knew Jacob wasn't capable of.

"Okay," Alexis shrugged, taking her word for it. "But…well, he doesn't _look_ that harmless."

"Well, he can certainly take care of himself," Sierra said, her bitter undertone not lost on her friend, yet not understood either.

"So if it wasn't him, then what _did_ happen?"

"It's no big deal, really. I guess there were just…some aspects of the lifestyle that…that I couldn't really get used to."

"What, did you just find out they sacrifice their first-born sons to the devil or something?" Alexis joked, remembering the horrified looked plastered across Sierra's face when she had arrived. The look on her face now told Alexis her joke had hit a little too close for comfort. This was when the alarm bells really started going off in her head. "Sierra, what the fuck is going on? Are they killing people over there or something? Is it some sort of weird cult?"

"Alexis," Sierra cut her off urgently, suddenly feeling defensive of the guys, of everyone who had been so nice to her in La Push. "No. It's nothing like that! No murder. No sacrifice. No devil worship."

"Well then you've got to give me something to go off of, girl! Because the way you looked when you showed up here, it's hard not to assume the worst."

"No. The guys are great. Everyone I met in La Push was great." Sierra paused as the weight of what she was saying sunk in. More for herself than for Alexis, really. No one in La Push had ever been anything less than absolutely welcoming to her. They had treated her like family from the day she had arrived. She reflected upon the fact that none of them had or ever would do anything to hurt her or anyone else…if they could help it at least. "I loved being there," she continued quietly. "It felt sort of like what I always expected home to feel like." _Except for one little detail,_ she added silently.

"If that's the case, Sierra," Alexis shrugged helplessly, "then to be honest, as long as they're not murdering anybody, I really don't see what could trump that." Sierra didn't say anything. She just looked down at her hands folded in her lap. Alexis tossed her the apartment phone. "Call the school. Tell them you had a family emergency and you'll see them tomorrow."

When Sierra showed up at the Tribal School the next day, she was relieved to be greeted by Tommy Davies as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "It's good to have you back, Sierra," was all he said.

Her students were all glad to have her back, but none more than Claire, who had become more than just a student to her, but a companion at family events or around Jacob and Quil's house, and a friend. Her face lit up as soon as she walked into the classroom and saw Sierra in her place behind her desk. "Sierra!" Claire cried. "Everyone's going to be so excited to see you."

Sierra's stomach did a flip-flop thinking about seeing the guys. She had no idea what to say to them about her disappearance. She had overreacted. Had basically told them that the burden they bore to protect their friends and family was so repellant to her that she couldn't bear to be around them, despite how wonderful they had been to her. It was almost hard to believe that, after all that, they would still be excited to have her back. She gave Claire a weak nod and a grin. "Go sit down," she said gently.

Claire nodded with understanding and turned to walk away. She stopped before making it two steps. "I'm really glad you decided to come back," she whispered over her shoulder before running over to her seat.

After school, Sierra saw Quil waiting for Claire in the parking lot as usual. She caught his eye and gave an apprehensive wave. As soon as he saw her, he let out a joyful whoop and ran over to her swinging her up in the air. "Sierra! Oh my God, you're back! We thought we'd never see you again. You've got to come by the house."

She couldn't help but laugh. She'd never seen Quil get this excited about anyone but Claire before. "Wow, miss me?" she joked.

"You have no idea."

She gave him a sideways look, not understanding his reaction. She remembered that there were still a lot of things that she didn't know, but also reminded herself that she was determined to keep an open mind this time. Like Alexis had said, as long as they weren't murdering people, what could be worth losing these guys? "Alright," she consented. "I've just got to go by Sue's place and talk to her about moving back in."

"It will be fine," Quil insisted. "Sue will just be thrilled you're back. Come on." He practically dragged her to the car once Claire came into sight. It was the only time she had ever seen Quil make Claire sit in the back seat.

"Jake's in his room. Go say hi. Don't bother knocking. He won't answer. Just go in. I'll make snacks." Quil was barking instructions as soon as they walked in the door.

"Okay," Sierra said hesitantly, obediently following his orders. She knocked on Jake's bedroom door out of habit, but didn't wait for a response before easing it open. The room was so silent she almost thought Quil was playing some sort of trick on her – that Jake wasn't really in there. Then she saw him. He was lying on the bed looking pale and emaciated. The sight of him was shocking but her sharp intake of breath was not enough to catch his attention. "Jacob?" she whispered.

His whole head turned toward her. "You're back," he said, a glimmer of light behind his sunken eyes. He tried to stand to greet her, but five days of not eating had taken a serious toll on his body. His head spun and he had to lie back down.

"Yeah," she said, sitting on the edge of his bed, holding one of his hands in both of hers. "I'm right here. Jake, are you okay? What's wrong with you?" It was terrifying seeing him so weak, so frail looking.

"The flu," he lied. He knew he couldn't keep it from her for long, but he didn't have the energy to tell her the truth at the moment.

"Oh Jacob," she sighed, stroking his face. His skin felt warm, but strangely not as warm as it normally did. "You should be under the covers," she said suddenly. He was happy to oblige. "Can I get you anything? Tea? Juice? Soup? Are you hungry? It doesn't look like you've eaten," she said, noting the untouched plate next to his bed. "Oh you look terrible."

Jacob laughed. He wasn't even sure why exactly he was laughing. The feeling was unfamiliar. He hadn't felt anything, much less the urge to laugh, in days. He felt like he had just landed back on earth after being stranded, floating around in nothingness. It was amazing. He could barely even stand, but he felt like he could fly. She had come back. "That's just what every man wants to hear," he said, his playful sarcasm coming back almost instinctively.

_Classic Jacob_, Sierra thought with a smile, _practically lying on his death bed, yet still cracking jokes._ She looked down at his wide grin, the twinkle in his dark eyes, and she knew that she had made the right decision coming back. Life wasn't the same without Jacob. She wasn't quite sure how or why. All she knew was that for some reason life was better when he was around, and she wasn't planning on giving him up any time soon. "Quil said he's making snacks," she said, standing up. "I'll go get you something." She swooped down and kissed him on the forehead before hurrying out of the room.

* * *

**Like it? Hate it? Things are FINALLY starting to go their way! I know I'M excited. haha. They're not quite in the homestretch yet, but I'll try not to drag out their agony and tension too much longer. (What do you think? Are you ready for them to finally get together already?) **

**Just want to give a special thanks and shout out to my faithful reader/reviewers, especially ajtotheeds, amroberts17, and xBelekinax. You guys are awesome! **

**To everyone following, I hope you continue to enjoy. And of course, I always love new readers! If you've made it to chapter 10, I hope it's worth continuing to read :) **

**I'd love to hear what any/all of you think! Thanks! **

**xox  
**


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